As Zero stepped out of the rose archway with Takuma, and the smell of roses cleared, he was immediately hit with a very familiar smell.

Cigarettes.

"Shisho!" he exclaimed, an instinctive excitement leaping in his chest as he saw his childhood teacher and mentor.

Yagari gave the merest smidgen of a smile at Zero, grunting a greeting.

"You're looking alright kid," he muttered, reaching out to ruffle his silver hair. He must be pleased to see me too, Zero mused at the odd gesture of affection.

"Can't say the same," he said with a cheeky smile, earning him a huff.

Yagari turned to Takuma, reaching out without a word to hook his arm around the vampire's waist. Zero blinked. He must have missed something. This was a behaviour he hadn't seen since the War (arguably, he hadn't seen much of Yagari since then).

"Kuran sent me to collect you," he told Takuma, "Says you've been out in the sun too long."

"Ah," Takuma agreed, "Yes, I probably have. I bet he told you to send me to nap until the coronation now."

"You betcha," Yagari said in a sarcastically cheerful tone, "What am I now, a babysitter? Bloody hell…"

Kain could have kicked himself when he found himself in the familiar position, crouched with his ear pressed against a solid oak door, with his cousin bundled below him at a lower perch. Every time he moved to shift his weight, Aidou would either elbow him in the gut (or close to somewhere very sensitive) or hiss at him to be quiet.

They were sneaking.

Hadn't he just promised himself last night that he was going to stop Aidou's nosing about?

He sighed. There was no getting around it. He was stuck to Aidou like glue. They went through thick and thin together (or at least he followed Aidou through thick and thin).

Currently, they had followed Kaname, finding him greeting a bunch of Hunters, though it had been expected. It was the first time in a while that they had encountered so many Hunters, which made Kain's skin crawl uncomfortably.

But rather quickly, the Hunters had been sent to follow Seiren around the castle, and one Hunter they recognised as Yagari Toga ran off in a different direction. They followed Kaname inside with the Headmaster, ducking behind various tapestries and decorative furniture comically, although Kain was certain Kaname and Kaien could both detect them very easily and were only humouring Aidou.

Kain had been about to drag Aidou away after one particularly ridiculous moment where they had apparently managed to evade Kaname's long, sweeping glance by squirming into the tight space between a tall vase and the wall. It had been very cramped and Kain was a large man which made it worse.

Aidou had nagged him that they would miss something if they left, "he could feel it".

So they continued to tag along, and found that something did happen. Kaname escorted two very well-known Vampire Council members (known for their loyalty to Kaname, since they had survived the "washing out" of the previously corrupted Council).

There was a meeting, with Kaname, two Council members, and a certain famous Vampire Hunter.

Kain knew they couldn't miss this anymore.

So he listened in as best as he could (the doors in the castle were very sound-absorbent).

All they could hear were well-mannered, calm tones of conversation. They were clearly getting along well.

"I can't hear anything!" Aidou hissed, a frustrated scowl on his face.

"Neither can I, let's scram."

"No way! How can you say 'scram' when Kan- AHH!"

The door fell in.

Well, actually, Kaien had pulled the door in.

The Headmaster grinned at them cheekily.

"Kaname said you two should come in. He wants you to hear this anyway."

"Kaname, why are those two hiding from us?"

"It's Aidou's idea. He likes to watch over me."

"That's cute! But can't they just come with us anyway?"

"…I suppose so. They are some of my most trusted," Kaname cast a long glance behind him, "But sometimes I wonder why they insist on spying on me like this. It's absurd."

"…We'll make them wait outside a bit, right?"

"Of course. I wonder how long it will taks them to realise my doors are soundproofed…"

Rima was perched on Shiki's bed, stroking his spiky auburn hair as he slept peacefully. She knew that he was actually probably as healthy as Takuma by now. He was just being lazy, as always, and would prefer sleeping than doing anything else.

What a sloth.

She poked him in the cheek, increasingly harder until he finally opened one eye.

Sighing, he swatted her away, but she pulled him back to her, running her fingers through is unruly hair to neaten it.

"You're being immature," she said slowly.

Shiki groaned. "Let me sleep."

"Stay still, I'm going to check your face. It's probably healed like the rest of you, you big baby."

She picked off the bandage tape gently, batting away Shiki's hands every time he reached to stop her. He was being such a baby. She rolled the bandage from under his chin, then the back of his head, around his forehead, there was so much bandage -

She gasped.

Shiki winced. "I know it doesn't look good. I didn't expect it to."

"What happened to it?"

Rima trailed her fingers across his right cheek, just below the eye socket on his bruised cheekbone. There was a long jagged wound that was still open, welling with blood and pus. It wasn't very long, but was deep enough that it just wasn't healing. She pinched it shut, ignoring Shiki's painful hiss, but the edges had to stretch to meet. It was as if the flesh on his cheekbone had been gouged out.

"What did he do?"

"He used the blood whip. I tried to retaliate with my own, but you can't defeat the master, can you? He knew all the tricks, and when I was distracted, he caught me with it," he caught her hand, "Don't touch it, it burns."

Rima let go, staring at the wound for a few more moments before covering it with a new gauze and bandage. She knew she wasn't a vain girl, despite being a model, but that wound was ugly, and it upset her because Shiki didn't deserve it.

She patted the bandage to smooth it out, ruffling Shiki's hair again.

"It will scar," she whispered.

Shiki closed his eyes, a cleft appearing on his smooth forehead which meant that he was deeply troubled or angry.

He took a deep breath.

"I know,"